The present invention relates to a data transfer method for the access to a record on an external storage in a computer system connected with a disc controller with cache, or in a retrieval processing system connected with the controller and a retrieval processing device.
The preload-processed data of the record group to be subjected to access by use of a conventional disc controller with cache is described in the "NIKKEI ELECTRONICS" 3, 11 (1985), pages 159 to 232, particularly on page 170, titled "Disc. Cache and Semiconductor Disc Proved to have an Effect for Improvement in System Performance". In this paper, when an access request is issued from a CPU to a certain file, an examination is made of whether a desired data record is present in a disc cache. If the cache is hit, the desired data record is supplied from the cache to the main memory, and if the cache is missed, several blocks (normally, one-track length) including the desired record block to which access is now made are sequentially read from a magnetic disc in a cache memory (part of it is subjected to preloading).